DWD's Reviews

  Published by Octane Press in September of 2020. I thoroughly enjoyed this autobiography because John Andretti was my favorite race car driver - period.  I have watched auto racing for as long as I can remember. Some of my earliest memories are going to qualifications for the Indy 500. I have Janet Guthrie's autograph - not realizing when I got it that it was actually an amazing autograph to have. The sound of a single car circling the track with the roar and whine of the engine (it has both sounds at the same time) echoing off of the stands makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. The history at that track cannot be topped by any other venue in the world. I attended my first NASCAR race at Michigan in 1981 with my father. The spectacle of the whole thing was amazing. It was won by my favorite driver at the time, Richard Petty. In 1986, we went to our first Indy 500 and haven't missed one since (the 2020 race doesn't count since no spectators were allowed due to Cov...

Published by Amazon Publishing in 2017. Janet Guthrie becomes the first woman to qualify for the Indy 500 in 1977. Every racing fan has heard of Danica Patrick. She raced successfully for seven years in IndyCar, raced in 8 Indy 500s (with 6 top ten finishes) and 7 years in NASCAR (with less success). Long before Danica there was Janet Guthrie - a true pioneer in motorsports. This short kindle book puts Guthrie's achievement in context in two ways. First, it details how truly startling it was to the drivers at the top levels of NASCAR and IndyCar for a woman to show up and try to add a little diversity to the field. Drivers that I always looked up to, like Richard Petty, said startlingly sexist comments about Guthrie. The second way the book puts Guthrie's achievement in context is the more important one.  The author, Stephan Talty, describes how Guthrie worked her way up the ranks, tore apart engines, suspensions and body work and worked on her cars in her spare time as...

  Not a great movie, but a must for Richard Petty and early NASCAR fans (from a Petty fan from way back) Just so you know, I've given this movie 4 stars - not because it is a great movie. It is not, unless you are a die hard Petty fan. But, it is a valuable piece of NASCAR history - a little gem that I picked up in the super-cheap DVD section of a local store. It is a snapshot of the beginnings of the modern heyday of stock car racing. Released in 1972 and full of footage from the early days of NASCAR, the production values in this one are not great, which is a mixed blessing. The old footage does not stick out from the rest of the film because the film itself is pretty grainy and has questionable sound at times. Richard Petty plays himself and he comes off as a fairly wooden actor, which would be a pretty unfair assessment to make if you are not familiar with Richard's personality. He is slow-talking (careful with his words), casual, straight-backed and w...

An enjoyable read from one of the true nice guys in American sports broadcasting I've listened to Eli Gold for years as one of the radio (and from time to time TV) voices of NASCAR. He's always come across as a nice guy and a straight shooter who is not out to grind any axes. From Peanuts to the Pressbox: Insider Sports Stories from a Life Behind the Mic is Eli Gold's story of how he went from being a peanut vendor at Madison Square Garden to being a nationally known sports announcer. Eli tells it in an entertaining, light-hearted style and keeps it classy by not airing anyone's dirty laundry. He does include lots of funny and interesting stories, including his tale of the day that he went to the airport with David Pearson, Bobby Allison's distinctive ritual when he flew his plane home after a win and the strangest thing Richard Petty ever signed (a duck!). The revelation that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is a big NASCAR fan who attends in his ow...

Fantastic. A must for Petty fans and fans of NASCAR history. Published in 2009 by Audiobook Publishing, LLC. 4 CDs Running time: approximately 4 hours Richard Petty sits down with his cousin and long-time crew chief Dale Inman (the only crew chief to win 8 championships) for a retrospective on their legendary careers with Barney Hall, the famed radio voice of NASCAR for 40 years on MRN. Barney begins the interview by having the two cousins tell about their early lives in rural North Carolina. They tell about how they got involved in Lee Petty's racing operation as part-time garage help after school and how, once Richard turned 21, they were able to start racing themselves. The give and take between these two cousins and, more importantly, long-time friends makes this a fun trip down memory lane. Petty's Dodge Charger,  a legendary ride As the interview moves along following Richard's career bits of audio from races are included as well as interviews with Ri...